Punishing One
by Orange Lantern Tsume
Summary: When Frank Castle, alias The Punisher, comes to town, the Titans may have some problems... (Punisher x-over, WIP)


Punishing One

By Blackheart Syaoran

SUMMARY: When Frank Castle, alias The Punisher, comes to town, the Titans may have some problems…

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Chapter 1: Big Dudes In Trench Coats

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It was on a late Thursday night that the Teen Titans found themselves battling a small army of carjackers, all of whom seemed intent on trying to defeat the heroes. Of course, the criminals weren't succeeding, but that didn't stop them from keeping up the efforts.

"Cyborg, the back door!" Robin ordered, disarming a wrench-wielding man.

"What about it?" the other yelled back as he handled his own problems.

"Did you secure it?"

"Wasn't enough time to—Hey, don't go throwing bottles at me!"

A second later, the man-machine's sonic cannon disposed of the troublemaker.

Unfortunately, their conversation had been a bit loud.

"Quick, everyone, out the back door!" the chop shop's leader ordered. "They can't hope to catch us all!"

The criminals made a mad dash for the exit, with the Titans in hot pursuit.

"Raven, can you seal them in?" Robin asked as he ran after the targets.

"Give me a second to—" she began, but was interrupted by a girlish scream from up ahead.

"Oh (word)!" one of the criminals cried. "It's The Pun—!"

He broke off as a torrent of machine gun fire mowed him and his friends down.

"Move!" Robin yelled, leaping aside of the line of fire.

The other Titans followed suite, ducking behind various bits of machinery for cover. Bullets from the machine gun outside tore through the chop shop rogues, pinging off of walls and stripped cars.

A mere thirty seconds after the shooting started, it abruptly halted, leaving a blaring silence in its wake. For a long moment, Robin listened, trying to tell if the shooter was approaching or reloading. Hearing nothing, he cautiously moved towards the exit, trying to ignore the dead bodies and their God-awful smell.

"Robin?" Starfire asked as she and the others also left their various points of cover.

"Nothing. Whoever was shooting, they're long gone now," the young hero reported. He glanced down at the carnage. "And judging by his or her handiwork, I'd say the shooter was packing a minigun."

Cyborg's jaw dropped. "A _minigun_? Dude, are you kidding me? Who carries those things?"

"I'll give you one guess," Raven said darkly.

"Oooh, oooh, I know!" Beast Boy said, jumping up and down. "It was that person the one guy was shouting about! You know, the person he called 'The Pun.' It had to be that guy!"

The others stared at him.

"Beast Boy, I don't think anybody would go around calling themselves 'The Pun,'" Robin pointed out.

"But that's the genius of it all! Nobody would ever think to look for a guy called 'The Pun'!"

Cyborg scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know, oddly enough, Beast Boy has a point." At this, the other gave a cry of joy. "Then again, he is just a little green booger, so it's not a big point…"

"Let's just stop arguing and head back to the Tower," Robin suggested, breaking up the almost-fight. "We can figure this out in the morning."

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The next morning, things got a little interesting down at Howard's Diner. Howard, the chunky and disheveled cook/owner, was being forced to lean over his grill in the kitchen by a large man dressed in ominous black clothes.

"Where's Slade Wilson?" the man growled.

"(Word) you, buddy!" Howard said.

"Your choice."

At that, the man forced Howard's face onto the grill. The cook screamed, trying to block out the pain as best he could, though it was too little avail. After a moment, the man pulled Howard's head back up.

"How about now?" the man asked. "I could keep this up for a while."

"I swear, I don't know nothing!" the cook answered. "Mr. Wilson only comes in here for some bacon and eggs, and then he leaves! He's got a tab running, for (word)'s sake!"

The man considered killing the cook, but then settled for smashing the man's face into the countertop, knocking him out.

"Get a new job," he said before leaving through the front doors.

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At the Tower, the Titans were gathered in front of the living room computer.

Robin spoke as he entered information into the machine. "Beast Boy actually did have a point last night: Not many people have the same name. I'm running a search for anyone or anything named 'The Pun,' including name fragments. With any luck, we'll get a match."

A moment later, the computer beeped, and Robin punched up the results.

"Huh," Cyborg said. "Only one find. Guy named 'The Punisher.'"

"Real name of Frank Castle, according to police files," Robin read aloud. "File goes on to note how dangerous and violent he is."

"Obviously," Raven stated. "You don't use tank-mounted machine guns or flame throwers on people without being at least a little mean."

"And just look at how he dresses," Beast Boy said. "You have to have some serious issues to wear a skull on your chest."

"Perhaps he likes such things?" Starfire suggested, naïve as always.

"Regardless of what Castle likes, we have to bring him in," Robin said. "He murdered an entire chop shop, and it was right in front of us."

"Maybe," Cyborg said. "We didn't actually see him do it; all we saw were bullets flying around."

"I don't think many people would have the nerve to dress like The Punisher, Cyborg."

"Hey, you never know, man."

"Let's just find out where he is—"

The computer beeped again, and a map of the city appeared.

"Trouble," Robin said. "Gunfight downtown. Let's go."

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"(Word) you, man!" the thug said to his buddy. "You stick your (word)ing head out there and see if he's still alive! I ain't doing it!"

"The (word) I am!" the other thug replied. "Slade'll have (word)s our if we don't kill this (word)er."

Without warning, the door behind them was kicked down. The spun about and saw one seriously scary-looking guy in black standing in the doorway, aiming a shotgun at them.

"Ah,(word)," the first thug said.

"I'm too good-looking to die!" the other yelled.

Two shotgun blasts later, The Punisher was striding up the stairs the thugs had been guarding.

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Outside, the Teen Titans arrived, adding to the small army of cars the police had amassed.

"What's wrong, officers?" Robin asked.

"A bunch of crack dealers are holed up in that house. We think there might be hostages, but we don't know for sure. A negotiator is on his way."

"That might take too long," Robin pointed out. "Listen, not to carelessly change the subject, but we think that a guy called The Punisher might be here, in Jump City."

The officer looked at him. "Yeah, and where's your proof?"

Before the Boy Wonder could answer, there was the sound of glass shattering, and a man fell from the apartment building's top floor, screaming as he dropped to the pavement.

Looking up from the grisly scene, Robin was able to make out a skull-emblazoned figure staring down from above.

"Aw, cripes," the officer said, rubbing his forehead. "I don't need this New York (word) in my district."

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AUTHOR: Hopefully, that will be enough to whet your appetites. I will update this later, as it is a WIP.

READ N REVIEW!


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